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U.K. - Animal Farm

Jane Hutcheon reports from London on the UKís increasingly militant animal rights movement.

At stake is a 40 billion dollar industry and, according to the scientists, the future of scientific research into a host of life-threatening diseases.

For their part, animal activists say many of the experiments on animals are not necessary, scientists lie to the public, and use animals because they are cheap.

Two years ago, campaigners managed to stop the construction of a new animal testing laboratory in Cambridge, and now they are trying to do the same thing in Oxford. But this time the scientists, and members of the public who support research using animals, are refusing to give ground.

ďItís difficult to think of a treatment thatís been developed in the past which hasnít involved animals,Ē says Professor Colin Blakemore, who heads Britainís Medical Research Council. The Professor is outspoken on the need to continue testing on animals, and heís paid a high price for his stance. Heís been the recipient of two letter bombs.

Keith Mann, an activist who has spent six years in prison for crimes committed in the name of animal rights, has no qualms about illegal activities if it protects animals. And he says almost any test can be done without using animals.

British police say theyíve identified around 500 key activists, and around 50 of them are prepared to break the law, sometimes threatening harm to humans in their quest to protect animals.